Novo Nordisk takes Eli Lilly to court over 'misleading' weight-loss drug ad | Here's what it said

Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly in a US federal court, accusing the US drugmaker of falsely advertising its weight-loss drugs as being more effective than Novo Nordisk’s treatments.

Novo said in its lawsuit to the US District Court in New Jersey that Lilly violated federal and state false advertising and unfair competition laws, including the Lanham Act, through nationwide advertising campaigns for the obesity drug Zepbound and the diabetes treatment Mounjaro.

Lilly compared top doses with the lower Novo doses

Novo further said Lilly compared the highest approved doses of its medicines with lower doses of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic while omitting newer, higher-dose versions that Novo says deliver greater weight loss. And hence, it is seeking a court order requiring Lilly to withdraw the advertisements and run a corrective advertising campaign

It further stated that it plans to seek a preliminary injunction if Lilly does not voluntarily remove the ads.

The two drugmakers are grappling for a share of a global obesity market that’s on track to reach $120 billion a year by 2030, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Though Novo beat Lilly to the market with Wegovy, the US drugmaker has caught up with Zepbound and now leads in sales. Novo has been working overtime to claw back market share, partnering with telehealth companies and rolling out a new weight-loss pill that’s proven to be enormously popular with patients.

Lilly shares fell 0.6% in premarket US trading. Novo shares fell as much as 1.6% in Copenhagen.

The highest dose trial showed a different result

Novo said it sent Lilly a cease-and-desist letter in April after US Regulators approved a 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy. According to Novo's general counsel, John Kuckelman, Lilly did not reply to the letter. Instead, the company added what Novo called an inadequate disclaimer to its advertisements.

Kuckelman told Reuters Lilly's advertisements compare weight-loss results of about 50 pounds for Zepbound with about 33 pounds for Wegovy, even though no head-to-head trial has compared the highest approved doses of the medicines.

“A separate late-stage trial of the highest doses showed average weight loss of about 48 pounds for Zepbound and 47 pounds for Wegovy.”

Novo also says that Lilly’s ads for its diabetes shot Mounjaro incorrectly tell consumers that the Lilly drug helps reduce blood sugar more than Novo’s Ozempic, based on a comparison to a lower Ozempic dose than is now on the market.

The Danish drugmaker is asking the court to order Lilly to stop running its ads immediately and issue “corrective advertising,” Kuckelman said, as reported by Bloomberg. “They’ve already polluted the water, so to speak, and now it needs to be cleaned up,” he said.

(With inputs from Reuters and Bloomberg)